Bundesliga 2007/08 ~ Champions: FC Bayern München

[BlackNess]

Final Scores:

Energie Cottbus 1 - 2 Bochum
15' [0 - 1]T. Bechmann
42' [0 - 2]T. Bechmann
49' [1 - 2]E. Skela

Hamburger SV 1 - 0 Bayer Leverkusen
64' [1 - 0]R.v.d. Vaart (pen.)

[Oliver_Kahn]

Good to see Rafa on the scoresheet

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Glad to see Ervin Skela on the scorer sheet.
I feel sorry for him that he lost, anyway.

Good to see Rafa back playing again, and scoring.
I don't think I remember him to have missed a penalty.

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Table after MD 2:

1. Bayern München - 6 pts
2. Hamburg SV - 6 pts
3. FC Schalke 04 - 4 pts
4. Arminia Bielefeld - 4 pts
5. VfL Bochum - 4 pts
6. Eintracht Frankfurt - 4 pts
7. Karlsruhe SC - 3 pts
8. Hertha BSC - 3 pts
9. VfL Wolfsburg - 3 pts
10. MSV Duisburg - 3 pts
11. Hannover 96 - 3 pts
12. FC Nürnberg - 3 pts
13. Energie Cottbus - 1 pt
14. Bayer Leverkusen - 1 pt
15. VfB Stuttgart - 1 pt
16. Werder Bremen - 1 pt
17. Hansa Rostock - 0 pts
18. Borussia Dortmund - 0 pts

Champions League
Intertoto Cup
Uefa Cup
Relegation


Top scorers after MD 2:

> Tommy Bechmann > VfL Bochum > 3 goals
> Miroslav Klose > Bayern München > 2 goals
> Luca Toni > Bayern München > 2 goals
> Tamas Hajnal > Karlsruher SC > 2 goals
> Artur Wichniarek > Arminia Bielefeld > 2 goals
> Manasseh Ishiaku > MSV Duisburg > 2 goals
> Serigu Radu > VfL Wolfsburg > 2 goals

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Bielefeld, Duisburg, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt should eventually drop points in the upcoming week(s).

Hamburg can 'follow' us for a while, but they will eventually slip aswell.

Just like I said, now only HSV has equal points with us, but however we have a much better goal difference.

They play Bochum away, they might still sneak a win.

So, we'll have our chance to get rid of them from our behind when we travel to play them, on matchday four.

Btw, I really like the look of bottom five.

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24.08.07, 20.30h
VfL Bochum : Hamburger SV

25.08.07, 15.30h
VfB Stuttgart : MSV Duisburg
Bayern München : Hannover 96
1. FC Nürnberg : Werder Bremen
Bayer Leverkusen : Karlsruher SC
Borussia Dortmund : Energie Cottbus
Arminia Bielefeld : Hertha BSC

26.08.07, 17.00h
Eintracht Frankfurt : Hansa Rostock
VfL Wolfsburg : FC Schalke 04

Bundesliga Table

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Bayern Munich and Hamburg are the only teams to have won both of their opening games and will look to extend their runs this weekend. Fellow title favourites, Werder and Stuttgart suffered heavy defeats in the last round of matches and will want to get back to winning ways, while Schalke will look to continue their impressive early form.

The weekend’s matches kick-off on Friday with Bochum welcoming Hamburg to the Rewirpower Stadion. Two 1-0 victories have seen the Hanseaten join Bayern at the top of the table. However, the good start has been overshadowed by the controversy surrounding want-away captain Rafael van der Vaart, but it was the Dutchman who shot them to victory last weekend against Leverkusen.

The club and the team will be hoping the situation is sorted before the next round of matches kicks-off. Bochum have made a positive start to the season with a well deserved draw against Bremen and an away win at Cottbus. In Tommy Bechmann they have the current league’s top scorer.

Ottmar Hitzfeld’s stellar Bayern Munich squad have a home match against Hannover. Miroslav Klose will miss the game following his injury against Bremen, so the ‘General’ may choose to play Luca Toni as a lone striker, supported by the attacking midfielders like Ribéry. With Bayern scoring seven goals in their first two matches, the Hannover defence will have to be on their toes to get anything from the game.

Dieter Hecking’s side have shown plenty of attacking intention so far, but have lacked bite up front. New signing Mike Hanke got off the mark against Karlsruher last Friday, but the side will need to start converting more of the chances they create. Hannover came away with a surprise 1-0 victory at the Allianz Arena last season, and it would be an even bigger surprise if they could repeat that performance this weekend.

After their hiccup against Hertha last week, reigning champions Stuttgart play host to newly promoted Duisburg. Armin Veh’s side have certainly not been firing on all cylinders this season, and the injuries and suspensions have not helped. With newly promoted Duisburg the visitors to the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion, the pressure is mounting for the Swabians to get their first three points of the season.

The Zebras were brought down to earth last Saturday after their splendid win over Dortmund, going down 3-1 at home to Wolfsburg. The last time the two sides faced each other in the Bundesliga in Stuttgart, Duisburg won 1-0.

Bayer Leverkusen will be looking for their first win of the season against Karlsruher at the Bay-Arena. Defeat to Hamburg last weekend means that the ‘Werkself’ have taken only one point from their opening games and have yet to score. Having signed last season’s top scorer Theofanis Gekas, that will surely be rectified sooner rather than later. Many people have tipped Leverkusen to break into the top four this season, but they will have to start winning games if that is to be the case. KSC have had a mixed start with an away win and a home defeat.

After last weekend’s trouncing at the hands of Bayern, Werder Bremen have a tough away trip to last season’s Cup winners Nürnberg. Having dropped 2 points away to Bochum on the opening day, Werder’s current plight was highlighted by Bayern as they handed out a 4-0 thrashing at the Weser Stadion. With a tough Champions League tie in Zagreb coming up, Thomas Schaaf’s men need a quick confidence boost.

‘Der Klub’ recovered from their opening day defeat to record their first win against Rostock on Saturday. Hans Meyer has already said that it will be difficult to repeat last season’s 6th place finish, but getting points against teams of the calibre of Werder Bremen will surely help.

Borussia Dortmund, who have started badly with two defeats, will be hoping to notch up their first points of the season against Cottbus who have also yet to win. An opening weekend defeat to Duisburg and a 4-1 loss in the Revier-Derby was not the start Thomas Doll was looking for. Despite showing promise in their pre-season matches, that form has not been in evidence in their first two Bundesliga matches.

Cottbus with a single point to their names will be hoping to follow in the foot steps of Duisburg who have already won at the Signal-Iduna Park this season.

The final Saturday game sees Hertha Berlin travel to Bielefeld looking to build on their impressive win against Stuttgart last week. A defeat to Frankfurt on the opening weekend did not bode well, but a victory over Stuttgart has given Lucien Favre’s team a confidence boost. Three goals against the champions is no mean feat and they will be looking to build on that against a Bielefeld side who could realistically be joint top with Bayern and Hamburg if they hadn’t let a two goal lead slip against Frankfurt.

On Sunday Schalke, fresh from their convincing derby victory over Dortmund, face Felix Magath’s Wolfsburg, who also had a good win last weekend. Wolfsburg have invested heavily this year and it is expected that new signing Josué will be able to make his first appearance.

Last season’s corresponding fixture ended in a 2-2 draw. Mirko Slomka however will be looking for three points as he tries to match Bayern stride for stride. Kevin Kuranyi and Christian Pander will be still be on cloud nine after their goals helped Germany beat England on Wednesday at Wembley.

The final game of this latest round of matches, sees Frankfurt play Hansa Rostock at the Commerzbank-Arena. The new boys are already finding life in the top flight hard with two defeats in their opening games. The Ostseestädter under Frank Pagelsdorf seemed like lambs to the slaughter against Bayern on the opening match day, but then a second defeat at home to Nürnberg left them pointless after two games.

Frankfurt looking to lose their tag as perennial under-achievers, will want to build on their four point start, and will be buoyed by their comeback against Bielefeld on Saturday.

Goal.com - Germany - Bundesliga Weekend Preview: Bayern And Hamburg Look To Keep Up 100% Records.

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Both VfL Bochum and Hamburger SV could go top of the Bundesliga table in the Friday night match. bundesliga.de with the latest information.

One point in Bochum would be enough for HSV (6 points) to go top of the standings for the first time since the fourth matchday in the 1999/2000 season.

Bochum (4 points) could do the trick with a win over Hamburg. VfL have not been top of the Bundesliga since August 2002.

Full concentration

In any case HSV head coach Huub Stevens doesn't care about the standings - he demands full concentration on Bochum.

"The current place in the table is not crucial, important is where we are after 34 matches. If we lose the next two matches everything looks differently anyway", Stevens says.

A score to settle

But HSV do have a score to settle with Bochum after the then-promoted team did the double over them last season. "It would be nice if things would continue like that", VfL head coach Marcel Koller says. "But we need to be mentally fresh to wrestle down this strong HSV."

Bochum's good start is not accidentally, according to goal-getter Tommy Bechmann.

"More potential than last season"

Even if key players like Bundesliga top scorer Theofanis Gekas (Bayer Leverkusen), goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny (Hertha BSC) and playmaker Zvjezdan Misimovic (1. FC Nürnberg) have left the club the Dane thinks that "the team have more potential than last season. Even if the club don't have much money, they have bought outstandingly."

Joel Epalle's involvement is doubtful. The striker still suffers from an ankle injury. If Epalle shouldn't make it, Stanislav Sestak or Marcin Mieciel would partner Bechmann, who has scored three in the first two matches, up front.

Line-ups as expected:

Bochum: Lastuvka - Concha, Yahia, Maltritz, Meichelbeck (Bönig) - Pferzel (Sestak), Zdebel, Dabrowski, Grote - Bechmann, Mieciel (Epalle).

Hamburg: Rost - Demel, Kompany, Mathijsen, Atouba - Jarolim, de Jong - Castelen, van der Vaart, Trochowski - Zidan.

Referee: Michael Weiner

[Oliver_Kahn]

Final score:

Bochum 2 - 1 Hamburg SV
45' [1 - 0] S. Sestak
83' [2 - 0] D. Imhof
86' [2 - 1] R.v.d. Vaart (pen.)

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Absolutely beautiful. Credit to Bochum.

We just have to beat Hannover now, and we're 3 points clear at the top.

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Bochum survived a late fightback from Hamburg to claim a 2-1 home win on Friday and maintain their unbeaten start to the Bundesliga season.

Stanislav Sestak put Bochum ahead at the end of the first half and Hamburg hopes of a third straight win were further hit when Vincent Kompany was sent off with half an hour to go.

Daniel Imhof doubled the Bochum lead with a long-range blast in the 83rd minute before a Rafael van der Vaart penalty three minutes later gave Hamburg brief hope of a rescue act.

Victory for Bochum took them into provisional top spot with seven points from three games. Bayern Munich are second with six points from two.

Bayern, the only side still with maximum points, will be strong favourites to go clear at the top on Saturday when they host Hanover 96.

Hamburg were well on top in the first half but poor finishing let them down. Mohamed Zidan created and missed the best chance when he jinked his way into the box only to shoot wide with just the keeper to beat.

Bochum took a surprise lead when they broke down the left and Joel Epalle outjumped Nigel de Jong and headed down for Slovak striker Sestak to sweep in first time.

Belgian international defender Kompany saw red for bringing down Tommy Bechmann as he broke over the halfway line and Bochum kept control before the late exchange of goals brought the game back to life.

Bundesliga - Bochum end Hamburg's perfect start - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

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Stuttgart, Leverkusen and Dortmund all play at home and hope for their first win of the season, Bremen travel to DFB Cup winners Nuremberg.

VfB Stuttgart - MSV Duisburg

Stuttgart hope to bounce back from the disappointing 3-1 defeat in Berlin.

VfB have German international striker Mario Gomez back from injury.

MSV had won their first away match 3-1 in Dortmund.

"We will play just like in Dortmund. There we played compact and scored through clever counter-attacks", MSV head coach Rudi Bommer said.

Bayern München - Hannover 96

Bayern aim to keep their 100 % record with a home win over Hanover.

With Miroslav Klose ruled out Ottmar Hitzfeld may opt for Luca Toni as lone striker. "The team basically picks itself right now", the Bayern head coach revealed.

96 are on the back of their first win of the season, 2-1 in Karlsruhe, and the Reds won 1-0 in Munich last season.

"We'll try everything to repeat that trick. Bayern are favourites, of course, but we won't give them the points as a present", striker Mike Hanke commented.

1. FC Nürnberg - Werder Bremen

Nuremberg have bounced back from their opening-day defeat against KSC by beating Rostock.

"We have lost at home three times - against Schalke in the League Cup, against Trondheim in pre-season and against Karlsruhe. We want to stop that run", FCN head coach Hans Meyer demanded.

Bremen still have a long injury list and a 4-0 defeat against Bayern to make up for.

"There will be a tough opponent awaiting us. We've always had tough games against Nuremberg although the statistics are in our favour", Werder head coach Thomas Schaaf warned.

Bayer Leverkusen - Karlsruher SC

Bayer have just a single point on board and haven't even scored yet.

"Beating KSC has to be our objective. We want to rise in the table and reach four points. The most important issue is that we use our goal scoring chances and ultimately score goals", head coach Michael Skibbe demanded.

Karlsruhe are down to earth after losing 2-1 to Hanover last Friday.

Hungarian midfielder Tamas Hajnal (thigh) is doubtful, fellow midfielders Massimilian Porcello (strain) and Stefan Buck (broken toe) are already ruled out.

Borussia Dortmund - Energie Cottbus

Dortmund are bottom of the table without a point and with seven goals conceded.

"Energie are strong on the counter-attack. We have to be prepared and patient, but still we have to get the fans behind us", Borussia head coach Thomas Doll said.

Energie may have lost at home to Bochum, but they are hard to break down on their travels as Leverkusen found out on the opening day.

"Our 3-2 win in Dortmund last season was sensational. But Borussia surely are under pressure. The longer we can keep it goalless the bigger our chances to get a result", Cottbus head coach Petrik Sander commented.

Arminia Bielefeld - Hertha BSC

Bielefeld missed out on a prefect start when they threw away a 2-0 lead in the last four minutes against Frankfurt.

"You have to be creative to score goals against Hertha", Arminia head coach Ernst Middendorp said. Even more so as South African striker Sibusiso Zuma is ruled out with a torn bundle of muscles.

Hertha are on the back of a 3-1 win over German champions VfB Stuttgart.

Skipper Arne Friedrich is ruled out of the match with a slight tear to his calf muscle sustained in Germany's 2-1 win in England in midweek, the defender's 50th cap for the DFB team.

[Oliver_Kahn]

Final scores:


Arminia Bielefeld 2 - 0 Hertha BSC
52' [1 - 0] I. Masmanidis
90' [2 - 0] A. Wichniarek

Bayer Leverkusen 3 - 0 Karlsruhe
20' [1 - 0] M. Franz (o.g.)
27' [2 - 0] M. Friedrich
35' [3 - 0] T. Gekas

Bayern Munich 3 - 0 Hannover
28' [1 - 0] L. Toni
69' [2 - 0] M.v. Bommel
86' [3 - 0] H. Altintop

Borussia Dortmund 3 - 0 Energie Cottbus
44' [1 - 0] F. Kringe
70' [2 - 0] D. Klimowicz
84' [3 - 0] D. Klimowicz

Nurnberg 0 - 1 Werder Bremen
69' [0 - 1] M. Harnik

Stuttgart 1 - 0 Duisburg
35' [1 - 0] M. Gomez